Spark Capital leads Series A round for Storefront

Storefront said Monday that it has closed $7.3 million in Series A funding. Spark Capital led the round with participation from investors that included Mohr Davidow Ventures, Great Oaks Venture Capital, 500 Startups, Box Group, SV Angel and Vikram Pandit. In addition to the funding, Mo Koyfman has been added to Storefront’s board. Storefront is an online marketplace that helps designers and artists find retail space to sell their products.

PRESS RELEASE

Los Angeles – April 14, 2013 – Storefront, the online marketplace that connects merchants with retail space, announces today that it has raised a $7.3 million Series A and is launching in Los Angeles. The investment was led by Spark Capital, with Mo Koyfman joining the board of Storefront. Storefront will use this new round of funding as a catalyst for new market expansion, focusing immediately on Los Angeles.
Storefront helps brands, designers and artists find retail space to sell their products, making opening a targeted, temporary retail store incredibly simple, including insurance, support, and promotion.
“We wanted to bring on a partner that was as passionate about the future of retail as we are,” explains Erik Eliason, Co-Founder and CEO of Storefront. “Mo and Spark brought exactly that, and have the experience building world-class brands — Warby Parker, Wayfair, and Twitter — that we desired.
Mohr Davidow Ventures, Great Oaks Venture Capital, 500 Startups, and Box Group, all investors in Storefront’s $1.6 million seed round, also participated.
Other new investors in the round include SV Angel, Gary Vaynerchuk, Nas, Tom Glocer, Vikram Pandit, and Troy Carter.
Since launching a year ago, over 1,000 merchants have used Storefront to open stores in New York City and San Francisco.
In just the last month, Storefront merchants have generated over $5 million in retail sales. Storefront customers include brands such as Google and Nike, artists such as Kanye West, and retailers such as Indochino.
“One of the biggest challenges for merchants today is finding prime retail space to sell their products. At Storefront, we help merchants find a great space and rent it on a temporary basis. We streamline the search, payment and insurance, which make opening an offline store as easy an online one,” explains Erik Eliason.
The types of spaces listed on thestorefront.com range from trendy showroom spaces to boutique neighborhood shops to booths at street fairs. Currently there are over four million square feet of space listed on the site.
Storefront was born from co-founders Erik Eliason’s and Tristan Pollock’s early exposure to art and entrepreneurship as well as their mutual passion to revitalize local economies. They both grew up in Midwestern, art-oriented families.
“We grew up with parents who liked to use their hands to create. You’d often find us painting, building, or making something from a very young age. Today we are here to help those artists, designers, and really anyone who has something to sell, find a space to sell it in,” says Pollock.
About Storefront
Storefront is the world’s largest marketplace which helps merchants find and rent retail space. The company streamlines search, payment and complete insurance coverage up to $5 million for retail spaces. Everyday Storefront connects artists, designers and brands with a unique variety of retail spaces, including trendy showrooms, neighborhood boutiques, booths at street fairs, and art galleries. Select spaces can be rented for as little as $50 per day. The company is also a graduate of the Forbes #4 ranked startup accelerator AngelPad. Find your perfect retail space at www.thestorefront.com.
About Spark Capital
Spark Capital is a venture capital firm that partners with exceptional entrepreneurs seeking to build disruptive, world-changing companies. Founded in 2005, the firm manages approximately $1,500,000,000 across four funds. Headquartered in Boston, Spark maintains an office in New York and invests across the globe. Spark Capital focuses on Internet and mobile investments across the following key categories: advertising & monetization, commerce & services, content & media, financial services, hardware & infrastructure, mobile and social. Some of Spark Capital’s most notable investments include Adap.tv (acquired by AOL), AdMeld (acquired by Google), Oculus (acquired by Facebook), OMGPOP (acquired by Zynga), Tumblr (acquired by Yahoo!), and Twitter (NYSE: TWTR). For more information, visit www.sparkcapital.com.